Abstract
Erythronium japonicum Decne (Liliaceae) flowers in early spring after overwintering. Its sexual reproduction process includes an underground development process of floral organs, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are obscure. The present study is aimed at exploring the transcriptional changes and key genes involved at underground floral developmental stages, including flower primordium differentiation, perianth differentiation, stamen differentiation, and pistil differentiation in E. japonicum. Multistage high-quality transcriptomic data resulted in identifying putative candidate genes for underground floral differentiation in E. japonicum. A total of 174,408 unigenes were identified, 28,508 of which were differentially expressed genes (DEGs) at different floral developmental stages, while only 44 genes were identified with conserved regulation between different stages. Further annotation of DEGs resulted in the identification of 270 DEGs specific to floral differentiation. In addition, ELF3, PHD, cullin 1, SE14, ZSWIM3, GIGNATEA, and SERPIN B were identified as potential candidate genes involved in the regulation of floral differentiation. Besides, we explored transcription factors with differential regulation at different developmental stages and identified bHLH, FAR1, mTERF, MYB-related, NAC, Tify, and WRKY TFs for their potential involvement in the underground floral differentiation process. Together, these results laid the foundation for future molecular works to improve our understanding of the underground floral differentiation process and its genetic regulation in E. japonicum.
Highlights
Erythronium japonicum Decne (Liliaceae) is a spring ephemeral plant commonly known as the Asian fawn lily [1]
This study investigated the transcriptional changes during floral differentiation in E. japonicum at four developmental stages viz., flower primordium differentiation, perianth differentiation, stamen differentiation, and the pistil differentiation period
Our study identified Transcription factors (TF) such as AP2/Ethylene-Responsive Factor (ERF) [84], bHLH [85], FAR1 [86], mTERF [87], MYB-related [88], NAC [89], Tify [90], and WRKY [91] as major regulators involved in floral differentiation in E. japonicum
Summary
Erythronium japonicum Decne (Liliaceae) is a spring ephemeral plant commonly known as the Asian fawn lily [1]. The known geographic origins of E. japonicum are Northeast China, Japan, and Korea [1, 2]. E. japonicum produces an eye-appealing florescence with reddish-purple flowers [3]. Flower buds are usually initiated before dormancy induction and continue during the dormancy period [4]. Many studies have been conducted to understand the life cycle, growth habits, reproduction, morphological distinctions, and environmental dynamics in E. japonicum [2, 3, 5,6,7,8]. There is an apparent lack of studies concerning the molecular mechanisms underlying the underground floral differentiation in E. japonicum
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